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A New Mexico judge has ordered Meta Platforms to pay $25 billion in penalties after a jury found the company systematically misled consumers about how it handled user data, hate speech and internal policies. The ruling, handed down on Wednesday, stems from the Cambridge Analytica scandal and represents one of the largest single-state verdicts against a tech company in American history.
The Verdict and the Penalty
Judge Francis Mathew issued the order following a jury finding that Meta had deceived Facebook users over an extended period. “Facebook’s wrongdoing — over the course of years and systematically broadcast to the public — goes to the heart of Facebook’s core business practices,” Mathew wrote in his ruling.
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Based on New Mexico state law, Mathew calculated that a penalty exceeding $219 billion was technically warranted. However, he reduced the final figure to $25 billion. State law allows penalties of up to $5,000 per violation, with all funds directed to New Mexico’s school system.
Jurors on September 25 found that 26 of 29 statements made by Meta and its leadership were misleading. They also determined that the company had committed more than 43 million violations of New Mexico’s consumer protection laws. That figure reflects the number of Facebook users or New Mexico residents who saw each misleading statement.
New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez called the ruling a historic moment. “It has been a long time coming holding Big Tech accountable,” he told reporters at a press conference in Albuquerque. “Today’s judgment is a clear break with that past and a very clear warning to those in this space and beyond that we intend to protect our people and protect our consumers.”
Cambridge Analytica and the Origins of the Case
New Mexico filed its lawsuit against Meta in 2021. The case arose from revelations that Cambridge Analytica harvested personal data from as many as 87 million Facebook users through a third-party app. Cambridge Analytica, now defunct, worked on Donald Trump’s successful 2016 presidential campaign. It used the data for voter profiling and targeting, obtaining it without users’ consent from a researcher Facebook had allowed to deploy an app on its platform.
The state accused Meta of lying to New Mexico Facebook users about who could access their data. It also alleged the company misled users about how it handled hate speech and misinformation. Furthermore, the state argued Meta knowingly allowed third parties broad access to personal data and tolerated harmful content when it served the company’s financial interests.
The $25 billion penalty is the largest levied against Meta in connection with the Cambridge Analytica scandal. In 2019, the US Federal Trade Commission fined the company $5 billion over the same matter. In addition, six other states settled related lawsuits for $459.2 million as part of a broader $17.1 billion multistate settlement Meta reached in August. That deal resolved claims that Meta’s platforms had harmed teen mental health.
Meta Vows to Appeal
Meta’s chief legal officer, C.J. Mahoney, said the company is confident it will win on appeal. “This ruling, and the Attorney General’s approach to this enforcement, makes it all but impossible to do business in the state of New Mexico,” Mahoney said. He also argued the lawsuit effectively seeks to impose a tax on speech and enforce new rules about what people can say online.
Before the verdict, Meta had urged Judge Mathew to cap penalties at $3.45 billion. The company warned that a higher figure could deter businesses from operating in the state. Meta also maintained in court filings that it does not sell user data and that New Mexico failed to prove any consumer was actually misled.
Financial analyst Gil Luria, head of technology research at D.A. Davidson & Co., described the ruling as costly but unlikely to affect Meta’s overall value. “Meta is worth nearly two trillion dollars and will likely continue to appeal these cases and drag them out,” Luria said.
Legal scholar Daryl Lim, an associate dean at Penn State Dickinson Law, noted that while the US Constitution protects against excessive fines, the large penalty does not automatically make it vulnerable to reversal. Because of the specific way New Mexico law is written, he said, the size of the award alone may not be enough to overturn it on constitutional grounds.
A Second Major Verdict Against Meta in New Mexico
Wednesday’s ruling marks the second major jury verdict against Meta in New Mexico within six months. Earlier this year, a Santa Fe jury concluded in March that Meta misled users about the safety of young people on Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. That trial resulted in $375 million in civil penalties. After a second phase of proceedings, a judge directed Meta to pay an additional $567 million into a New Mexico fund for teen mental health. The court also ordered Meta to introduce specific protections for teen users in the state.
Together, the two cases signal an increasingly aggressive stance by New Mexico against the social media giant. Meanwhile, legal experts expect Meta’s appeal of the $25 billion Cambridge Analytica penalty to be lengthy and fiercely contested.
